OAKLAND, Calif. -- David Mason, who described in detail to authorities how he killed four elderly people, was convicted of five counts of first-degree murder Tuesday by an Alameda County Superior Court jury.
Mason, 26, looked downward as the verdicts were read, remaining emotionless.
He could be ordered to die in San Quentin's gas chamber when the jury of eight men and four women reconvenes for the penalty phase of his trial set by Superior Court Judge Jacqueline Tabor for June 14.
The San Lorenzo man was convicted of the strangulation-burglaries of four elderly Oakland residents in 1980. He also was convicted of the jailhouse slaying of Boyd Wayne Johnson in May 1982.
During the trial, the prosecution played a series of tape recordings made by Mason on which he described the murders of the elderly residents. Mason said on the tapes he had 'freed' the people from the problems of the world.
The highly-publicized Johnson murder occurred after the convict lead Alameda County authorities to a rural gravesite of a Hayward woman near Redding.
The search was videotaped by a free-lance newsman and sold to a number of Bay Area television stations.
Mason saw the search on television and when Johnson was returned to the Alameda County jail, strangled Johnson in his cell. Mason said he killed Johnson because he was a snitch.
At the trial, Mason took the stand and denied each of his three confessions made to authorities.
